1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an appliance for use in high-temperature environments such as but not limited to fire-fighting, more particularly to an article of clothing for fire fighters.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up to the present, fire-retardant cloths were generally formed of Nomex or PBI fiber, which are themselves fire-retardant to begin with, or of fibers which must be pretreated with various chemical agents in order to be fire-retardant, such as synthetic fibers, such as Nylon, polyester fiber, acrylonitrile fiber, rayon, and other synthetic fibers, or natural fibers, including cotton, wool, and other natural fibers. Appliances for fire-fighting, including numerous clothing articles, such as suits, pants jackets, boots and gloves used for protecting an individual when fighting a fire, are constructed of these fire-retardant cloths. However, such fire-fighting appliances suffer from the following disadvantages:
(1) Because such appliances are made of a fire-retardant material, rather than a nonflammable material, said appliances will catch fire when exposed to flames or substantial temperature for any significant length of time.
(2) Such fire-fighting appliances cannot protect an individual for any extended length of time from the heat produced from flames or substantial temperature, such as those encountered when fighting a fire.
(3) Upon repeated contact with water the fire-retardant qualities of the fire-fighting appliance will deteriorate, as fire-retarding chemical agents are gradually leached out.
Currently used fire-retardant fibers, such as Nomex, the most popular, are not fireproof, and have relatively low melting points. It is an object of this invention to provide an improved class fire-retardant cloths, which are believed to represent a significant improvement over material previously used for clothing articles of this general type. For example, Nomex melts at temperature of only 300.degree.-400.degree. C., whereas oxidized fibers have been tested up to 940.degree. C. and have no known melting point. Furthermore, oxidized fibers will not catch fire.